Cherington says Red Sox will be cautious buyers

By

Peter Abraham

July 27, 2012

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

NEW YORK — This weekend’s series against the Yankees is being billed as a make-or-break stretch for the Red Sox ahead of the Tuesday trade deadline. But general manager Ben Cherington doesn’t see it that way.

“I’m choosing not to think about that. I don’t see a scenario where we’re going to shift over to that side [and become sellers]. But we have to be honest with ourselves and see where we’re at,” he said Friday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

“The best way we can get better is with the guys on the team. There’s no single trade or multiple trades we can make to impact the team more.”

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Cherington did say that the 49-50 Red Sox are in new territory for this time of the season. It’s a math problem, he said, deciding whether to obtain a player.

“Sixty games, five games back in the loss column. What needs to happen for us to climb that hill and can this guy help us climb that hill?” he said. “It’s never certain, obviously. Last year proved that. In previous years, the odds were much higher. You could look at through the lens of what does the team need to be as good as possible come October.”

“We’ve had conversations with teams. There are a handful of guys that would be really tough to move. We’ve always been our best when we’re bringing impact talent up to the team,” Cherington said. “You look at what Will [Middlebrooks] and [Felix] Doubront have done. We’re going to need to do more of that. There’s more than one benefit that comes from it. There’s an energy that comes from it. Performance on the field is key and it makes managing the payroll easier. We have to be really careful to keep those guys.”